He announced it and he did it: far-right leader Geert Wilders withdrew his support for the coalition, thus bringing down the government in the Netherlands.

The news comes from the leaders of the other coalition parties after a brief consultation with the leader of the Freedom Party (Pvv).

The future of the right-wing government led by independent Dick Schoof was already uncertain after an extraordinary meeting on migration held between coalition leaders on Monday evening. Wilders had already expressed his skepticism about the survival of the coalition, in power for less than a year, after calling for a crackdown on migration policies. "I want to be very clear," he said after the meeting. "If most of our proposals are not adopted by the coalition and implemented by the government as soon as possible, the PVV will leave."

The measures presented by the sovereignist leader represented a drastic crackdown on immigration: closing borders to asylum seekers, strengthening controls and expelling dual nationals convicted of criminal offences.

After its election victory in November 2023, Wilders' Freedom Party (PVV) became the main force – with 37 of 150 seats in parliament – within the majority formed with the right-wing liberals of the VVD, the centrists of the NSC and the farmers' party BBB.

(Unioneonline/vl)

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